7 Ways to Make Organic & Paid Search Work Together

Paid and organic search both rely on search engine results pages to attract clicks and traffic to our websites.

Often we target the same audiences with both channels and within them find ways to align them.

In some organizations, PPC and SEO are done by the same person or people.

In others, though, there are teams that are siloed and separate from each other.

Regardless of how our paid and organic search teams or efforts are structured, we can benefit from sharing specific data, tactics, and approaches across the channels and disciplines.

By sharing, we can save efforts, costs, and be smarter in how we optimize and manage campaigns.

Here are seven specific ways that paid and organic search and work together for mutual benefit.

1. Keyword Research

This is probably the most obvious or first way to collaborate that we would all think of.

Both paid and organic search:

• Rely on keywords.
• Need initial and ongoing research and insights to determine the keywords and topics that match up well with what our target audiences are searching to find our content.

While we may use different tools to get our keyword research data, there’s no reason to keep sets of data for SEO and PPC separate.

Multiple tools and multiple mindsets in the research process can yield the uncovering of more ideas and terms that might not be thought of or discovered by different tools.

By sharing data, and potentially going further in sharing research tasks along the way, we can share insights like:

• Long-tail terms.
• Topical groupings for terms.
• Ideas that we may not have thought about in a single channel or siloed mindset.

2. PPC Ad Copy & SEO Titles & Meta Descriptions

Paid search text ads are formatted very similarly to organic search results in SERPs.

This means that we can look at the best performing ad copy for PPC ads in terms of click-through rate and quality score and relate it to SEO titles and meta descriptions.

The reverse is also true as we can use the SEO titles and meta descriptions with the highest click-through rates to guide keyword use and text for PPC ad copy.

By studying what works for each channel, we can cut down on some of our testings and use what has proven to work on the other channel in the past.

3. Search Term Performance

The best guidance and shortcut to optimal performance is by having historical data to act on and to help identify areas to leverage and those to avoid.

When SEOs can get search term reports from Google Ads and when PPCs can get Search Console performance data, a lot of experimenting and mistakes can be avoided.

While keyword research tools can provide great guidance, getting actual search performance is even better.

We have to consider seasonality, changes in SERPs, and differences in competitors for paid versus organic search, but again, it is a great starting point if you can share or gain this info.

4. Competitor Data

Competitors are a big factor in rankings, ad positions, and costs of investing in both paid and organic search.

Understanding who is paying the most for ad positions and dominating the SERPs can help SEO.

Likewise, it goes the other way as well. Competitors aren’t always the same for organic and paid search.

Plus, they change over time based on SEO tactics and algorithm changes.

Sharing historical and current competitor data can help understand the opportunity for rankings and bids. Read More..